New coffee shop in Oshtemo Township brings sister and brother back to their roots

OSHTEMO TOWNSHIP, MI – When Trish Nguyen was eight, she remembers
helping her family dry the beans on their coffee farm in Vietnam. She was supposed to scan the sky for rain.

Her parents would take the coffee to the mill on the backs
of their motorbikes.

"We didn't have a van," Nguyen said.

Twenty-three years and thousands of miles later, Nguyen and
her brother, Thinh, 27, have opened their own coffee shop, Blackeye Espresso Cafe, at
7000 Stadium Dr. in Oshtemo. A third brother, Sam, is their landlord.

The café, which serves Counter Culture Coffee, had a soft opening June 20. It specializes in espresso drinks, smoothies and
frappes, and offers some West Coast staples, such as cold-brewed ice coffee and
pour-overs, that Nguyen brought back from Portland from her stint at ABC Coffee
School.

"The acidity level is lower," Nguyen explained about cold-brew. "You can taste that smoothness."

Currently, the café serves paninis and baked goods. Nguyen
hopes to establish a more extensive menu by the fall. She's happy to take
customer suggestions about everything from menu items to whether to hold an
open-mic night. The café also offers free wi-fi.

"It's just the two of us," said Nguyen. "We're really hands
on."

The Nguyens' mother survived the Vietnam War and immigrating to
the United States. "She said she would never forget that time on our farm," said Nguyen. "She said it was one of the hardest things she ever did."

That's why they felt it was important to choose a
company that specialized in sustainable practices and fair-trade beans.

Despite being at the café at least 12 hours a day — it's
open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily — Nguyen said so far she's enjoying the coffee
business.

"It doesn't feel like
work to me," she said. "We said, 'Let's make it a place a where we would want
to stay.' "

While spending 12 hours a day, every day working with a
sibling might sound like a recipe for disaster for some, the Nguyens say, so
far, so good.

"It has its moments," said Thinh Nguyen. "You're still
family, at the end of the day."

Bob Fugate, who works down the street at Lake Michigan
Mailers, was visiting for the first time Tuesday afternoon.

"The coffee's good," he said, adding that another coffee bar
had closed down at that location two years before. "I'm glad somebody's coming
back."

The Nguyens moved to Kalamazoo in 2011 from Orlando, where
another brother is still a chef. The attraction: Being near their older
brother, who moved to Kalamazoo to go to school at Western Michigan University,
got married and stayed.

"People tell us we're doing it backwards," said Thinh
Nguyen, joking that people usually move from Michigan to Florida, not vice
versa.

This summer's heat wave made them feel right at home, he
said: "It started to seem like Florida."

He likes Kalamazoo's "laid-back" quality and does not miss
the hordes of tourists.

"It's a close-knit community. It feels like people really live
here," said Thinh. "There are locals."

Yvonne Zipp is a business reporter. You can reach her at yzipp@mlive.com or 269-365-8639.